EGANVILLE, ONTARIO – (February 24th, 2010)
A news article about Ben Hoffman appeared in the Eganville Leader newspaper today. More information will be provided soon…
Dr. Ben Hoffman, born in Pembroke and now living near Foymount, has just released his memoirs, Peace Guerilla and a Hollywood film, Girl Soldiers, staring Uma Thurman will detail the role he played in bringing peace to Uganda, negotiating with war lord Joseph Kony.
PEACEHAWKS – ( February 24th, 2010) – By Jamie Arbuckle
… the peacemaker must ‘wage’ peace.
- Ben Hoffmann
- by Jamie Arbuckle, for Peacehawks
Peace Guerilla – unarmed and in harm’s way, my obsession with ending violence
By Ben Hoffmann, Ph.D.
The Canadian International Institute of Applied Negotiation, Ottawa, 2009
206 pp., $12.96 (Cdn)
This book is the story of Ben Hoffman’s efforts to end a nineteen-year old war between Sudan and Uganda. His chief instrument in this was the Nairobi Agreement, which had been mediated by former President Jimmy Carter in December, 1999. Ben, working on behalf of the Carter Center (http://www.cartercenter.org/homepage.html), was to oversee the implementation of the Agreement. To do so, he would have to end the guerilla war being waged by Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army against the Government of Uganda, from safe areas within and with the support of Sudan. Kony’s LRA was an especially vile band, kidnapping children for “warriors” and “wives”. Kony himself, as Ben makes graphically clear, was mad, bad and dangerous to know. And get to know him Ben did, with all that entailed. If you take nothing else from this reading, you will empathize with the courage and the self-reliance required for this sort of intervention.
PEMBROKE, ONTARIO – (The Daily Observer- Feb. 5, 2010) – By Stephen Uhler
Throughout his distinguished career as a peace mediator, Pembroke native Ben Hoffman has lived through situations which seem more the stuff of movies than of real life.
Now, one of these assignments will lead to him being depicted on the silver screen, with the possibility of an A-list actor playing his part.
The film, Girl Soldier, scheduled to start shooting in Africa this March, and starring Uma Thurman, focuses on the plight of child soldiers, particularly girls, who were kidnapped in Uganda by warlord Joseph Kony, the head of the Lord’s Resistance Army. (more…)
TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – Jan. 13, 2010) – Canadian mediator, Ben Hoffman, isn’t accustomed to Hollywood’s red carpets and tuxedos. That soon may change, however, as the former peace director for President Jimmy Carter will have a character inspired by his work in an upcoming movie starring Uma Thurman, called Girl Soldier. (more…)
A short video documenting Ben and his team on a mission in Guinea-Bissau:
